This invention is directed to a machine for manufacturing honeycomb core material and more particularly to a machine for manufacturing honeycomb core material of finite width and height from a continuous corrugated foil strip material.
Many manufacturing processes, such as welding, require that several parts be brought together and assembled precisely at a work station, held thereat in such assembled relation for the duration of the welding period and then moved from the work area to make way for successive parts to be introduced, assembled, and acted upon therein. A situation of this type arises in the manufacture of honeycomb core material. In forming this honeycomb core material, strip feed and positioning means comprising inter-nesting electrode and indexing pins juxtaposed sections of corrugated metal ribbon or strips so that troughs of one strip rest on the crests of an adjacent strip. The strips are then held in this position while contacting electrode pins on the upper and lower welding assemblies and welding wheels on the weld wheel assemblies pass welding current through the abutting nodes of the adjacent crests and trough to thus weld the same together and form adjacent cells of the honeycomb core. When selected crests and troughs have been welded together, the electrode pins and welding members are withdrawn from the thusly formed cell and, following the shuttling of the core by the indexing pins, the indexing pins are re-inserted and re-applied as the process is repeated, as necessary, to complete the desired core.
For a completely satisfactory result, providing high quality honeycomb core, the juxtapositioning of the strip sections must be very precise; the pressure, movement and electrical contacting of the welding members must be critically controlled and precision positioning, alignment, and movement of the parts must persist repetitively in the cell-to-cell formation throughout the length and width of the core.
Various honeycomb core machines have heretofore been devices and used with varying degrees of success.
Examples of prior art machines for producing honeycomb core are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,927,991 by W. A. Schoelz; 3,070,686 by P. Vinson et al.; 3,077,533 by F. H. Rohr et al.; 3,092,711 by H. B. Bennett et al. and 3,108,368 by C. W. Christinan.
In general, these prior art machines require that the maximum width of the honeycomb core panels is either dictated by the number of weld electrode positions or that the honeycomb core, or such portion produced of it, be shuttled back and forth by the operator or other means so that a width greater than the number of weld electrode positions can be accomplished. The prior art machines produced wavey or uneven surface core which had to be later trued due to the use of a single set of wheel weld electrodes. Also, in order to get a precise dimensional honeycomb core material, a thick blanket was produced initially, then this blanket was sliced or machined to get the desired width, length and thickness. This operation is very labor intensive and produces a considerable amount of waste.